Holding device for shoe heels



July 14, 1936. T, L MYERS 2,047,645

HOLDING DEVICE FOR SHOE HEELS F1198 Oct. 28, '1955 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY Tyra L Myers Patented July 14, 1936 UNITE STATES ,ATENT OFFICE HOLDING DEVICE FOR SHOE HEELS tion of Ohio Application October 28, 1935, Serial No. 46,991

12 Claims.

My invention relates to a holding device for shoe heels, and particularly to the device for holding shoe heels while they are being coated or sprayed with material such as lacquer, or the like, one object being to hold a shoe heel so that the lacquer, or the like may be applied thereto and, at the same time, mask or protect the shoe heel tread portion or top lift against being coated by the coating material.

In the manufacture of wooden heels for womens shoes, it is often times desirable or necessary to apply such a material to the heel after the tread or top lift has been attached thereto.

It is also often times desirable to apply a refinishing coating to a shoe heel having a tread or top lift thereon, or to apply lacquer, or the like to a top lifted heel which is covered with some flexible material such as leather or celluloid so as to change the color of the heel or to change i the luster of the covering material. Heretofore, the general practice has been to protect the tread or top lift of the heel, which is ordinarily wood or rubber, from'having coating material applied thereto with a masking tape having an adhesive thereon so as to adhere to the top lift. Thenyafterthe heel body is suitably coated, the masking tape is removed from the tread or top lift. This method of protecting the heel tread or top lift thus requires two separate and distinct operations as well as a considerable quantity of masking tape whereby the coating of top lifted heelshas been a slow and tedious, as well as an expensive, operation.

It is the object of this invention to overcome these previous inherent disadvantages attendant to applying lacquer, or the like to a top lifted heel by providing a holding device for the top lifted shoe heels to be coated which is provided with a gripping means for holding the heel in a position to be lacquered and, at the same time,

'masks or protects the heel top lift from the coating material applied to the heel body.

Various other objects and advantageous feay tures of this invention may be had from the following description and one embodiment thereof may be seen in the accompanying drawing wherein similar characteristics of reference designate corresponding parts and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a heel holding device constructed in accordance with the ideas disclosed by the invention, the holding device having a top lifted shoe heel therein.

Fig, 2 is a top plan view of the holding device shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the heel holding device shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Referring to the drawing, the heel holding device is shown as comprising two plate members I and 2 pivotally mounted, one upon the other' 5 in this instance, as at 3 so that their forward ends 4 and 5 are movable toward and away from each other and provide a plate or support for the tread or top lift end of the heel 6 when the ends 4 and 5 are more or less closely adjacent 10 to each other as shown in Fig. l. The reason for the ends 4 and 5 being movable away from each other will be hereinafter apparent. Any suitable means may be provided for moving the forward ends 4 and 5 of the plates I and 2 toward 15 each other. However, as shown in the drawing the plates are moved toward each other manually, suitable grip members I and 8 being provided respectively on the plates I and 2, and depending from the under side thereof, whereby 20 the device may be conveniently held between, for example, the thumb and finger of the operators hand and the plates I and 2 actuated thereby.

As a gripping means for holding the top lift of 25 the heel, a resilient or spring member 9 is provided,such spring member being disposed in the form of a U with its open end toward the ends 4 and 5 of the plates I and 2 and having one end thereof secured to the plate I as at It] and the opposite end secured to the plate 2 as at II. As shown, the free ends of the U-shaped spring member 9 are secured to the plates I and 2 by means of screws. However, any suitable securing means, for example, such as pins, may be 35 used, the only requirement being that the U-shaped spring member be removable from its end attaching means whereby spring members of different lengths and widths may be used with the remainder of the device for accommodating 40 top lifted shoe heels having top lift ends and top lifts of varying shapes and sizes. For example, a heel having a small top lift end would require a shorter U-shaped spring member than a heel having a large top lift. The U-shaped 45 spring member 9 is so disposed that its ends will continuously tend to move outwardly from the center line of the device whereby, the ends being secured to the ends 4 and 5 of the plates I and 2, such spring member will continuously tend 50 to separate the plate ends 4 and 5 to a heel receiving position such as is shown in Fig. 2.

In'the use of this heel holding device, the device is held between the thumb and fingers of the. op-erators hand and, with no force being 55 exerted by the thumb and fingers on the grip members 1 and 8 which is sufficient to overcome the plate separating force of the U-shaped spring member 9, the plates will be in the position shown in Fig. 2 wherein the plate ends 4 and 5 and the ends of the U-shaped spring member 9 are in separated position. With the parts of the holding device in this position, a heel is picked up by the operator and deposited with its top lift end on the plates I and 2, and Within the area bounded by the U-shaped spring member 9. The heel having been so placed on the holder, the ends 4 and 5 of the plates l and 2 are moved toward each other by the operator exerting pressure on the plates 1 and 8 by his thumb and finger, such closing movement of the plate ends 4 and 5 moving the U-shaped spring member 9 into engagement with the rounded sides and back of the heel top lift I2 as shown in Fig. 1 to effectively grip the heel top lift and secure the heel to the holder for presentation of the heel to the heel coating equipment, usually a spray where lacquer, or the like is used as the coating.

As illustrated in Fig. 1, the U-shaped spring member 9 is of substantially the same height as the thickness of the top lift I2 on the heel 6, whereby the rounded sides and back of the heel top lift are effectively covered and protected against any liquid coating later applied to the heel. It will be understood that there is no necessity for coveringthe breast surface of the top lift l2 inasmuch as the breast surface of a heel is not ordinarily coated with lacquer, or the like. So that the height of the spring member 9 may correspond substantially to the thickness of the top lift l2, it is necessary the spring member 9 be removable whereby spring members of different heights may be used with the remainder of the holding device to accommodate top lifts of different thickness. In a like manner, it is necessary that the spring member 9 be removable from the remainder of the holding device whereby spring members of different lengths may be used to accommodate heels of different size and larger and smaller top lifts. For example, a heel considerably smaller than that shown would require a shorter spring member 9 since it would have a smaller top lift and heels considerably larger than that shown would require a longer spring member 9 since they would have larger top lifts. Means are therefore provided for substituting one spring member for another by making the end holding means for the spring member removable as, for example, having the end holding members take the form of screws as shown.

Referring to the drawing in the preceding description, it will be seen that I have provided a simple heel holding device which is adapted to effectively hold heels for presentation to a coating mechanism such as a spray and, at the same time, will effectively mask or protect the top lift of the heel against receiving any of the coating material. The device being manually operated and adapted to be held in the operators hand makes it possible to move the heel into any desirable position relative to the coating mechanism.

It will be understood that the use of this device in the broad sense is not limited to the masking or protecting the top-lifts of the toplifted heels. For example, by changing the contour of the spring member 9 the device may be used for holding a heel and masking or protecting any selected part against the reception of a coating material such as lacquer or the like. Also, the use of the holding device is not limited to use with a top lifted heel but may be equally well used with heels having no top lifts where it is desired to mask some part of the heel during the coating operation.

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

1. A heel holding device comprising a support on which a heel is adapted to rest and a resilient element carried by said support and movable into engagement with the end of the heel on said support.

2. A heel holding device comprising a support on which a top-lifted heel is adapted to rest, and a resilient element carried by said support and movable into engagement with the end of the heel on said support, said resilient element being adapted to cover the sides and back of said top lift when in gripping engagement with said heel.

3. A heel holding device comprising a support for a heel including relatively movable plate members on which a heel is adapted to rest and. a resilient element movable into engagement with the heel on said support.

4. A heel holding device comprising a support' for a heel having a top lift thereon, including relatively movable plate members on which a heel is adapted to rest and a resilient element movable into engagement with the end of the heel on said support, said resilient element being adapted to cover the sides and back of said top lift when in gripping engagement with said heel.

5. A heel holding device comprising a support for a heel including relatively movable plate members pivoted one upon the other and a resilient element movable into engagement with the heel on said support.

6. A heel holding device comprising a support for a heel having a top lift thereon, including relatively movable plate members pivoted one upon the other and a resilient element movable into engagement with the end of the heel on said support, said resilient element being adapted to cover the sides and back of said top lift when in gripping engagement with said heel.

7. A heel holding device comprising a support for a heel including plate members and a resilient element movable into engagement with the end of the heel on said support and including a spring member having its opposite ends secured to each of said plate members respectively.

8. A heel holding device comprising a support for a heel having a top lift thereon including plate members, and a resilient element movable into engagement with the end of the heel on said support and including a spring member having its opposite ends secured to each of said plate members respectively, said resilient element being adapted to cover the sides and back of said top lift when in gripping engagement with said heel.

9. A heel holding device comprising a support for a heel including plate members and a resilient element movable into engagement with the end of the heel on said support and including a spring member having its opposite ends secured to each of said plate members respectively whereby to act to separate said plate members.

10. A heel holding device comprising a support for a heel having a top lift thereon including plate members, and a resilient element movment being adapted to cover the sides and back of said top lift when in gripping engagement with said heel and to act to separate said plate members.

11. A heel holding device comprising a support for a heel including relatively movable plate members on which a heel is adapted to rest and a resilient element movable into engagement with the heel on said support and being arranged to mask or protect selected sections of the heel surface against the reception of a coating material. 12. A heel holding device comprising a support for a heel including relatively movable plate members pivoted one upon the other and a resilient element movable into engagement with the heel on said support and being arranged to mask or protect selected sections of the heel surface against the reception of a coating material.

TYRA L. MYERS. 

